The aim of this article is to inquire into the emergence of a new catholic economic ethic, as well as examine whether this ethic differs from that conceptualized by Max Weber as the protestant ethic. The theoretical starting point is Weber’s classic work

The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, in which Weber argued that Catholic entrepreneurs only participated marginally in the development of modern capitalism. Early, many catholic intellectuals refused any merits of the capitalist system, particularly in its liberal version. The market economy has commonly been associated with individualism, utilitarianism, and egotism. The late Pope John Paul II, as head of the Vatican State, was active in promoting a change of ethical attitude in the face of capitalism, particularly through the Centesimus Annus

Encyclical. This encyclical attempts to formulate a bridge between catholic thinking and capitalism, by accepting, and even promoting, important aspects of capitalism, albeit a capitalism imbued by a new catholic economic ethic.